9tubohouse by Makoto Masuzawa

Originally designed in the early 1950's by Japanese architect Makoto Masuzawa, the 9tubohouse is only 9 square tubo (or tsubo). A tsubo is a square made up of two tatami mats and nine of them is equal to only 538 square feet. See floorplans for this compact design after the jump...

The 9tubohouse has seen a recent resurrection, thanks to contemporary Japanese designers Makoto Koizumi and Yasuyuki Okazaki, head of Commdesign, who began selling models of the house online in 2002. The house costs about 90-150K USD, though it's only available in Japan for now, and takes about 5 to 6 months to build.

The 9tubohouse website is in Japanese, so we didn't understand anything except the photos, which make it clear that this is one exceptional small space design. Check out the rest of it at 9tubohouse.com.